Tag: Second Life

The National Security Agency has been plastered all over the news since Edward Snowden leaked documents showing how widespread American surveillance is. But, as the late night pundit points out, the Federal Bureau of Investigation is also doing a pretty darn good job playing Big Brother.

In recent years, the NSA and Britain’s GCHQ have turned their legally dubious spying efforts to the world of online gaming, which documents leaked by whistle-blower Edward Snowden and obtained by The Guardian, The New York Times and ProPublica described as a “target-rich communications network” in which intelligence targets could “hide in plain sight.”

Savvily referencing the work of William Gibson, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has made a rather bizarre appearance on Second Life, showing up at a virtual Capitol Hill on Pollywog Gardenvale’s “News From the Virtual World.” (Bonus: features unintentionally hilarious, if drawn-out, intro theme music.)

This week our selection of Truthdig-flavored videos includes a shocking short documentary on the evangelical war on evolution; a bird’s-eye view of perhaps the first ever avatar-attended virtual peace rally; and a troubling home movie of a U.S. Humvee engaging in bumper-car action in Baghdad.